Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Julian Assange and Sarah Palin

By Jerry Smith Jan 25 2011
assangewatch.blogspot.com

People, mostly American right wingers, have been calling for the U.S to have Assange extradited to the U.S., charged with treason and sentenced to the death penalty. Lawyers for Assange have accused Swedish authorities of secretly planning to extradite him to the US as soon as it has built a criminal case against him.

"Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders?" asks Sarah Palin.
Lawyer Mark Stephens told the media on January 12: “We are hearing that the Swedish are prepared to drop the rape charges against Julian as soon as the Americans demand his extradition.”

Assange should fear being extradited to the U.S., some there want him dead.

Sarah Palin has been quoted as saying: “His past posting of classified documents revealed the identity of more than 100 Afghan sources to the Taliban.

She has also written: "Assange is not a 'journalist', any more than the 'editor' of al-Qaeda's new English-language magazine Inspire is a 'journalist'." Lets not forget, in 2008 she was interviewed by Katie Couric, and appeared unable to name the newspapers she reads.

Palin has branded Assange an “anti-American operative with blood on his hands” and has said "cyber tools" should be used to "permanently dismantle WikiLeaks".

She claimed WikiLeaks’ financial assets should be frozen "just as we do to individuals who provide material support for terrorist organisations".

“What steps were taken to stop” Assange? Palin asked. Why haven’t NATO, the EU and anyone else been asked to disrupt Wikileaks? “Shouldn’t they at least have had their financial assets frozen?”

Palin, just three weeks after saying on her Facebook page that the U.S. should hunt Assange down like al Qaeda, used a leaked cable from WikiLeaks in a USA Today Op-Ed as crucial evidence in her argument against Iran's nuclear program.

In an interview at the Reagan Presidential library shortly after news of the leaks hit the airwaves, Mike Huckabee said: "Whoever in our government leaked that information is guilty of treason, and I think anything less than execution is too kind a penalty."

In an interview with MSNBC, Assange dismissed the charges that he is a digital terrorist, and called what he interpreted as cries for his head from people like Huckabee and Palin as nothing more than "another idiot trying to make a name for himself."

In the interview, Assange warned other media outlets that if a conspiracy charge could be levied against him, then it could be levied against any reporter who works with confidential sources to get sensitive information.

"That's going to take out all of good government journalism as it occurs in the United States," he said.

Peter King of New York, has said he wants Wikileaks designated a “foreign terrorist organization.”

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has said “WikiLeaks and people that disseminate information to people like this are criminals.” As for legal action, he said, “We are looking at a whole host of things and I wouldn’t rule anything out.”

The Associated Press on Tuesday quoted an unnamed government official as saying U.S. lawyers were poring over legal manuals to see if Assange could be prosecuted under the Espionage Act.

Sweden, where Wikileaks is based, has been investigating Assange because of accusations of sexual assault that were dropped and then renewed. Sweden has also refused him residency. On Tuesday, Ecuador offered residency to Assange, who is Australian.

Stary tells National Public Radio he’ll pursue a “private prosecution” because her remark is essentially a call for Assange’s execution.

“Our main concern is really the possible extradition to the U.S. We’ve been troubled by the sort of rhetoric that has come out of various commentators and principally Republican politicians — Sarah Palin and the like — saying Mr. Assange should be executed, assassinated,” Stary says.

Stary is proposing Palin be prosecuted under Australia law that is more restrictive, he says, on matters of free speech than American law. The idea is if Palin were to be in Australia at the same time Stary is, she would be arrested and prosecuted for threatening the life of Assange.